Number 13

April-May 2002

Fancie (26) grew up in a traditional Taiwanese family with strong bonds with other relatives and a high level of social control. Taoism was the family religion including the worship of ancestors and many different gods. When Fancie converted to Christianity, she knew that following Christ would not be free of costs. She went against family tradition and expectations. In order to go to church on Sundays, she had to turn down her uncle's weekly invitation to join their family activities. Fancies relatives could not understand how her God could be more important than her family.

" In Chinese society, a Christian is always challenged to choose between tradition, social values, family, and God," Fancie explains. " It is tempting to give in and please people rather than God. But every time I was about to compromise my faith, one Bible verse always came to my mind to encourage and strengthen me. It is the question Jesus asked Peter after His resurrection: 'Do you truly love me more than these?'."

Fancie skating with other staff members

When Fancie applied to work in The Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry she was already in The Netherlands. After finishing law school in Taipei, she had signed up for a one-year program at the University of Leiden, only half an hour away from Amsterdam. Unfortunately, her student visa did not permit her to stay in the country to work at The Shelter Jordan. For this she would need another permit that she only could obtain in her home country. This meant that she had to fly from Amsterdam to Taiwan to wait for the permit, and then return to Amsterdam to join the youth hostel ministry. This procedure would probably take a few weeks. But weeks became months, and after half a year the permit procedure was still not completed. By that time Fancies plane ticket for the return flight was about to expire and she wondered if she had been waiting in vain.

Her parents didn't understand at all why she wanted to volunteer in a Christian hostel in Amsterdam, and why she kept on waiting for the opportunity to do so. Wouldn't it be better to find a job in Taiwan? Also the local church did not support Fancie in her decision. The pastor even spoke strongly against unpaid mission work. " In the Chinese Christian society, doing volunteer work is regarded as ridiculous," Fancie says. " Our church leader and elders always teach us to find a socially respectful job, to be successful, and to earn as much money as possible, so that we gain more influence in society and are able to donate more money to the church." Even Fancies close Christian friends could not understand her motivation.

Instead of being supported by the Christians around her, Fancie started to feel lonely and insecure. No one in her social circle encouraged her to serve in The Shelter. Only one friend was supportive, but she lived in The Netherlands. " It was the most difficult time in my Christian life," Fancie admits. The return to Amsterdam was delayed again and again as she kept waiting for the permit. Christians and non-Christians alike had challenged her choice for missions. Was she doing the right thing?

During this difficult time the Lord did not forget about Fancie. In moments when her doubts were the strongest and when she was almost ready to give up, God would give her a sign that encouraged her. One day over lunch her parents urged her to take a job in Taiwan. While Fancie started to actually consider this option, the news program on the TV started to show a documentary about The Netherlands. This was maybe the first time she had seen something about The Netherlands on Taiwanese TV and it served as a wonderful encouragement. Another time, after her pastor had discouraged Fancie again, she found comfort in the words of Psalm 91:1, " He who dwells in the shelter of the most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." Only a few days later she found out that The Shelter ministry uses this verse as its theme.

The waiting in Taiwan became even more difficult when the date approached on which the validity of the plane ticket would expire. The personnel department of The Shelter tried to speed up the procedure in order to receive the permit before the due date, but without success. To purchase a new ticket would require funds that Fancie did not have. Just when she thought that her dream had ended something happened. " An old friend who I hadn't seen for a long time visited me unexpectedly. After hearing my concern about the flight ticket, she told me that she knows someone at the Air Company who is in charge of ticket affairs. Immediately, she tried to find out if there was anything that could be done. After a few phone calls, the outcome was that I only had to pay a little extra to keep the ticket valid for six more months. God sent an angel to me at the right time. One week later the ticket would have been useless."

In September the permit was granted to Fancie. Certain that she had made the right choice, she arrived in Amsterdam on October 14th. Since that day, her time in The Shelter Jordan has been a blessing. Her fellow workers commend her because of her joyfulness. In evangelism, the Lord is using her to reach out to tourists from South East Asia. " To Japanese guests I look Japanese, to Chines travellers I look Chinese, and people from Korea think I am Korean," Fancie laughs. The similar cultural background and facial features makes it easier to connect with guests from these countries. In her testimony to these guests, Fancie shares the Gospel in connection to the cultures and traditions of South East Asia.

Just recently Fancie received a letter from a Chinese tourist whom she had shared the Gospel with. He wrote that he wanted to become a Christian but could not find a church in the Chinese town he was living in. Wondering how she could help him, Fancie talked in the hostel with a missionary who was on her way to a mission conference in Malaysia. At the conference this missionary met a pastor from the Chines town the tourist was living in. He could provide follow up for the young Christian. In this way, the Lord weaves a web of Christians all over the world to make disciples in His name. Fancie is one of the many persons He is using for this.

AA

The long Easter weekend marked the start of the tourist season from now on the hostels will frequently be fully booked. However, the real significance of Easter is that Christ is risen! We could celebrate this joyful news with the guests in the hostels. The message of the living Christ is such a beautiful truth to proclaim.

Tourists on Dam square.

In preparation for Easter, the Shelter City offered a special series of Bible study to the guests in the hostel. On Easter morning the guest were woken up by singing instead of the usual wake-up call. The weather was beautiful sunny, which is not necessarily good news. " All the people were out when we wanted to start the special Easter program in the snackbar of the hostel," says assistant manager Jan de Visser. " But we waited a little bit, and by God's grace, at the moment we actually started the program the snackbar was full of people. During the meal people were even sitting in the courtyard because there was no place inside." Both staff and guests joined together in singing praise songs. The Easter message was presented in in various ways: Lynn played mime, Karen shared her testimony, and Jan read from the Bible.

A couple of weeks before Easter, on a Thursday night in The Shelter Jordan, an Italian guest accepted Christ. Giovanni had a long talk with Harold Davidse, the employed Night Receptionist in The Shelter Jordan. It became clear that Giovanni was hooked on smoking weed. But he was also very open for the Gospel. Later, also a staff member and a Christian guest joined the conversation. The guest, Aron, was a member of an outreach team that was doing evangelism in the streets of Amsterdam. He has a past of using drugs himself, and was able to effectively minister to Giovanni.

That night Giovanni became a Christian and turned away from drugs. He handed over his weed to Harold to be thrown away. Also his money he gave to Harold because he didn't want to fall into the temptation of buying new drugs. The next morning Giovanni continued his journey and left the hostel as a changed man. " This is extra special," says manager Jacob Kops, " when you realise that Giovanni had arrived at The Shelter Jordan when the hostel was fully booked. Only because an other traveller did not use his midnight reservation, one bed came available. God prepared a place for Giovanni to do a great work in his life."

This coming September, The Shelter City hopes to celebrate its 30 years anniversary. Last year we celebrated this occasion at The Shelter Jordan. The Shelter City opened one year later and surely also wants to remember this special marking point. In the next Newsletter we will tell you more about the various activities that will take place in September. For now, we can inform you that we will try to publish a small book (in English) about the ministry. For this we would like to ask for YOUR INPUT! You are invited to send in any written story, memory, encouragement, etc. Please do this before the end of the month. Your contribution will be greatly appreciated. Mail to pieter@city.shelter.nl, or to the street address of The Shelter City.

Hans de Boer, assistant manager in The Shelter Jordan, and Pieter Visser, manager
of The Shelter City, visited four Bibleschools, this February. At two schools in Switzerland (Institute Biblique Emmaus and European Nazarene College) and two others in Germany (Bodenseehof and Europaisches Bibleseminar Rudersberg), they spoke about the ministry to travellers.

" Of course, we wanted to tell the students about the ministry of The Shelter and about the possibilities to serve there as a volunteer. However, for us it was more important to encourage them to seek God's will, and to find out what He wants to do with their lives. This could involve The Shelters in Amsterdam, but God can also lead them to another country and a different ministry. Realising this, we really wanted to challenge the students to find out what God wants with their future. In all the presentations we had a time of worship to praise God and also to express that we depend on Him every day.

We showed the brand new Shelter promotion video. This gives a good impression of the hostels. We spoke about evangelism to travellers in general and more specifically about the guest Bible studies and the one-on-one conversations in the hostels. We tried to present this in such a way that the students could use this in their studies or personal ministries. We also prayed for the students and received prayers our self. Especially the time of prayer in Rudersberg was an encouragement. The students stood around us and prayed for God's blessing over The Shelter ministry and us.

We enjoyed the many conversations we had with students and staff. At the schools we also met several people who have worked in The Shelters. I always love to hear what happened in the lives of those who have left the hostel. It was great to speak with Christian Schneeberger from Canada, who is a student now at Emmaus in St.Legier. We met two other friends at Bodenseehof, where Barbara Stahl and Sonila Rexho are studying. At the Nazarene College we met with Erhard Depner together with his wife and beautiful baby twins.

We drove back to the Netherlands in the middle of the night. Outside it was dark, but our hearts were full of light. We felt blessed to have God as our Father. We are thankful for the blessed days He gave us at these schools."

Pieter Visser

More than 30,000 travellers are staying in our hostels each year. This means, for us, 30,000 opportunities to bring someone in contact with the gospel. To be able to use these witnessing opportunities we need more than 60 workers each year. Would you like to become a youth hostel missionary or do you know someone who would?

We are looking for Christians between 18 and 30 years of age, willing to commit for a period of 6 to12 months. During this time you will be part of our international staff team and you will be involved in both practical work and evangelism. The Youth Hostel Ministry provides unique opportunities to serve the Lord and to share the gospel in words and deeds. Go into the world, in a place where the world actually comes to you!